The Ryoka
by Jesh Nyx
Summary: Haru Katsu has become a Substitute Soul Reaper. Life is better than usual for him until a plot takes motion that has Haru as the center of attention. And in store for him is his first visit to the mysterious Soul Society. However it won't be pleasant.
1. Chapter 1

A zanpakuto's blade swoops down vertically through the air of the night. The moonlight reflects off of the illuminating blade. A shriek of an inhumane creature echoes throughout the atmosphere but falls on the deaf ears of the human world. The sharp sword falls right through the middle of a forsaken hollow and its body splits into symmetrical halves. It dissipates as the cry fades.

Haru raises his arm to wipe his sweating forehead with it. His other arm wields his zanpakuto that he recently used to exterminate the hollow.

He speaks, "I think I'm getting the hang of this Soul Reaper business." The dull side of the zanpakuto rests on Haru's left shoulder and behind his head as he fixates on the spot where the hollow once stood. "All I got to do is to kill hollows and send wandering spirits to the Soul Society."

Then Haru's attention shifts to a nearby bench where Kisuke Urahara is sitting. The mysterious shopkeeper holds his usual fan in front of his face and under his green and white striped bucket hat.

"Very impressive Haru!" Kisuke compliments the Substitute Soul Reaper's abilities. "That's hollow number twenty-seven that you have taken care of in the last week."

Haru remembers now that it has indeed been exactly one week since he became an actual Soul Reaper. It has been one week since he had received his zanpakuto, Soraryuu. Ever since that day, Haru has been patrolling the streets of Karakura Town for hollows and training a few hours a day with Urahara. His skills improve with each minute he gains experience.

"That many already, huh?" Haru responds. "Felt like I only done away at least a dozen hollows by now, but I wasn't keeping track. I was just only-"

Urahara intercedes, "Doing it for the sake of being a Soul Reaper, right Haru?" He lowers his fan down to peek over the top of it at him. Haru goes to a nearby bush where he stored his unconscious body to protect it from being discovered by anyone or anything. His soul goes back into the lifeless shell and it becomes alive once again.

"Yeah..." Haru answers. Kisuke shuts his fan in one motion.

"You know," he starts to state, "It really is starting to become a pain that when you want to become a Soul Reaper that you have to go find me every single time, don't you agree?" Haru notices this and finds truth in it. "What if I'm not around when you really needed me to stop a very dangerous hollow and you're stuck in your natural human self?"

Haru then asks, "Well then how can I change into a Soul Reaper if I don't have anything to get out of my body with like your cane?" He points to the former Soul Reaper's cane that has an interesting graphic of a flaming skull on the bottom of it.

"Correction Haru," Kisuke says as he looks at Haru. Then with his free hand that isn't holding the cane, he tosses a pearlescent green spherical pill towards Haru. He quickly catches the pill and inspects it. "You do now have a method to become a Soul Reaper when I'm not around."

"What is this pill?" Haru asks Kisuke.

Kisuke replies, "It's what's known as a mod soul pill. This small container contains an artificial soul that will inhabit your body when you swallow the pill and forces your own soul out of it. Then the artificial soul will take your place in the body so normal humans won't suspect a thing."

"That's really handy," Haru says in awe.

Then Urahara goes on, "This one is Tomoko. He used to be my mod soul when I was an actual Soul Reaper myself. He hasn't been getting into any action for about several years so I thought he could use a wake-up call by giving him to you."

"Thanks," Haru says to him. He stares at the pill for a bit and thinks out loud, "I wonder if it really works..." The pill goes into Haru's mouth and he swallows it. It tasted like a mix of fruits as the pill goes down his throat. In no time at all Haru's soul gets pushed out of his body. He looks at his own flesh and expects it to fall over again like it normally does when this happens; however, this time the body remains standing up. It turns around to face Haru and Kisuke. Then it stretches its arms and legs and gives a great big yawn.

"Boy..." Haru's body speaks on its own and this surprises its original owner. "What a nap that was." It looks at Kisuke after its stretching. "Oh hi Kisuke. It's been a while."

"Hey Tomoko," Urahara greets him. "I'm glad to see you back in action again." Tomoko turns to look at the unfamiliar Haru.

"So who's the new guy?" he asks his former owner.

Urahara introduces, "Oh this is Haru, Tomoko. He's going to be your new partner as of now. I'm giving up ownership of you."

"You what?" Tomoko interjects. "I'm not going to listen to this newbie!" He crosses his arms and closes his eyes. "I'd rather be left in that storage room than go along with someone who is of no rank!"

A nerve snaps in Haru's head. In one fell swoop, Haru has pinned Tomoko in his body to the ground with his zanpakuto sword drawn and is pointing down straight at Tomoko's face (which is technically Haru's). Tomoko crosses his eyes to look at the sharp point of Soraryuu.

Haru threatens, "I'd rather cut my body in half with you in it than rather take your trash talk, got it?" A light blue spiritual glow illuminates from his spiritual body as it rests on one knee on Tomoko.

Tomoko stammers, "Oh o-o-k-k-k-k... y-you're r-really not as... bad as I-I thought." Beads of sweat go down his face as he apologizes. Haru gets off Tomoko and helps him up. Then he removes the mod soul pill from the body and it becomes lifeless yet again.

"This really is handy," he compliments to Kisuke who is now once again holding his fan in front of his face. Haru gets back into his body and pockets Tomoko in his pants. "Thanks for it," he says and then smiles a bit at him.

"My pleasure Haru," Kisuke welcomes him.

Haru walks on his way back to his penthouse after a long day of patrolling for hollows. He passes the very same park where he encountered Yoruichi for the very first time when she killed the same hollow that attacked him at the arcade. Subconsciously Haru walks into the park and takes a seat at a bench. He tilts his head up to look at the dark night sky.

The sound of quiet footsteps approaches him and Haru looks down to see Yoruichi approaching him. She wears the very same garments she wore the day the two first encountered: white shoes, black pants, and orange jacket, and a hair band to hold her long, purple hair in a ponytail behind her head.

Yoruichi greets to him, "Hi Haru."

"Yoruichi," he responds back.

She then says, "So are you enjoying being a Soul Reaper?"

He looks at her and answers, "Yeah I am having a great time. I just don't know when I have felt like this before in my life. It's a good kind of feeling that I don't want to go away."

"That's good then for you," Yoruichi says. "That means you are finding purpose behind fulfilling Soul Reaper duties." She smiles and Haru can see her teeth through her gaping smile. It didn't take long for him to smile back at her.

"So..." Haru slowly says as he tries to think of what to converse with her next. "Is there a reason why you're here to see me Yoruichi?"

She starts to reply, "Actually..." Then her eyes look away and down a bit. Yoruichi finishes, "No... I just wanted to check up on you and see how you're doing."

"Oh," Haru says in response. "Well... thanks for checking up on me... I guess."

Yoruichi turns around and starts to walk away when she states, "I should get going now."

Haru says, "All right. Have a good night Yoruichi." He watches her walk away.

She doesn't respond for a bit until, "Thank you Haru. You too." Then she disappears in an instant. Haru knows about the stealth technique known as shunpo after Yoruichi explained it to him when he wondered why was she able to move so quick and fast.

After Yoruichi left Haru then stands up from the bench and walks down the path that goes through the park and back to the street that will lead him home. His feet stop at the curb as Haru looks at the domain of Karakura Town that stands before him. He looks at each lit window on each building he sees before him. The night wind blows from behind Haru and flows through his auburn brown hair.

Suddenly a heavy spiritual pressure befalls onto the top of the unsuspecting Haru. He tries to breathe as best he could but his lungs feel like they were being crushed under the abnormal spiritual pressure. Haru is able to pinpoint the source of the presence and it's coming from behind him. He slowly turns his head around to behind his back.

With his eyes Haru sees something that resembles a black rip in the night sky that overlaps the moon. On the ground about 20 feet from him stands the silhouette of a figure. The mysterious, ominous being appears to be wearing a long coat of some sort and is wearing half of a grotesque helmet because Haru can see its hair flowing in the wind on the other side of its head. The figure approaches him.

Haru had no time to react because of the weight of the spiritual pressure being pressed down on him. A fist punches right in the middle of Haru's stomach and then another smacks him in the head. Haru blacks out.

The unusual rip in the sky then closes. The wind blows a few fallen tree leaves over the same spot in the sidewalk where Haru once stood, but he's now no longer there-nor is the wraith that appeared to him.


	2. Chapter 2

Urahara's Shop: an unorthodox convenience store that is located strangely in a back alley in Karakura Town is what a normal human would think of the place, but secretly it serves as a connection to the Soul Society and deals in spiritual goods. The shop is now very quiet from an outdoor perspective. Go inside and it's pretty the same as well as the owner, Kisuke Urahara, is sitting at a table drinking tea. He is accompanied by the mod souls Ririn, Noba, and Kurodo. The inside of the facility is as quiet as the outside because of the lack of the sounds of a bustling city.

"So..." Kisuke attempts to break the ice. "It sounds a little too quiet in here don't you think?" He looks at the mod souls in their gigais (it's what gives them a human appearance). Ririn and Kurodo shrug, but Noba remains silent as he usually does with his arms crossed.

The door to the back room where the four are residing in opens. Yoruichi enters and closes the door behind her.

"I'm back," she announces to them.

"Welcome back Yoruichi," Kisuke greets her. He goes on, "You went to see Haru, didn't you?"

Yoruichi answers, "Yes I did. I just felt like it all right?" Her friend looks at her with a surprised expression.

"I wasn't insinuating anything you know," Kisuke states. Yoruichi notes this and blushes a bit.

She apologizes, "S-sorry..." Her head turns away from him so she won't have to make eye contact with him.

Then Kisuke says, "It's all right Yoruichi. I understand what it is you're thinking by now." This makes Yoruichi turns her head back to him to see his sincere expression. She looks at the ground with narrowing eyes as she thinks.

Then suddenly a strong spiritual pressure descends onto the shop. The tenants sense it upon them.

Kurodo says, "Oh dear! This spiritual pressure is incredible!"

"It's not a Soul Reaper that's for sure!" Ririn responds.

Kurodo goes, "It's not! It feels like..."

"We have company," Kisuke announces as he looks at Yoruichi. She turns to the location of the source of the spiritual presence. Her eyes widen when she realizes where the being emitting the pressure is located.

"It's coming from the park where I last saw Haru!" Yoruichi tells Kisuke.

The group immediately makes their way to the scene where Haru had a little chat with Yoruichi. They witness a tear in the night sky close before they arrived.

Kisuke thinks to himself, "_That's not good. That was a Garganta leading to Hueco Mundo. Hmm... could Aizen be behind this?_" They get to the park and discover it empty. Yoruichi worriedly looks all around for any signs of her Soul Reaper companion.

"He's gone..." Yoruichi tells everyone. "I can't sense his spiritual pressure anymore." They find this true for there is no trace of Haru's presence anywhere. Urahara steps out from the group toward where the Garganta was in the sky.

"This really is not good," he tells them his thoughts. "It appears that our friend Haru has gotten himself abducted by the Espadas and Aizen."

Ririn reacts, "What? Why would they kidnap of all the more important people in this place him?"

Kurodo responds, "Well reasonably it really is pointless to target a new Soul Reaper such as Haru..."

Noba just observes from the back of the pack. Kisuke takes what evidence he has to form an understanding of what is to become of Haru.

He thinks to himself, "_Aizen wouldn't just let this happen without his knowing... Which means he must have ordered for this to happen, but what does he have in mind for Haru?"_

Kisuke, Yoruichi, and the others return to Urahara's Shop. At the front entrance, Tessai, Urahara's employee and friend, greets them.

Tessai says, "Boss while you were out Tomoko has returned." This surprises Kisuke. Tessai informs him, "He's in the back room." Kisuke walks into the store without taking his wooden sandals off at the threshold. He opens the door to the back room and sitting on the table is a light blue teddy bear with a rainbow emblem on its sandy brown belly.

It speaks with Tomoko's voice, "There you are at last Kisuke! I've been waiting ages for you!" Kisuke stares at the talking bear. Tomoko notices this and looks up at his former owner sullenly. "I can explain this," he explains.

Tomoko goes on to tell his tale. As it turns out, after Haru pocketed him in his capsule form in his pants' pocket and chat with Yoruichi for a bit, during Haru's encounter with the mysterious being when he was punched in the stomach by it, Tomoko fell out of Haru's pocket. He landed onto the road and saw Haru being taken forcefully through the Garganta to Hueco Mundo. The poor guy thought that he was going to be left forever on that cold road and will eventually be swept into a storm drain and then taken to an ocean where he will drift to the bottom of the sea and be buried in the sand and will never be seen again. Fortunately for him (well unfortunately if you want to take into account the bear form he got out of it through a chance of luck that will be explained now) a family driving on the road home from a carnival passed Tomoko on the street. A kid was dangling a teddy bear he won from a game out the window. He lost his grip on the toy and it fell to the street. It bounced and oddly enough, its open mouth lands on the pill which is Tomoko. The mod soul gains control of the unfortunate bear and went back to the shop to tell Kisuke of what happened. However, when Tomoko arrived Urahara wasn't in because he just left so he waited for about ten minutes before he finally came back.

After the bear finishes telling his story, Kisuke is sitting at the table along with Yoruichi and the other guys are kneeling behind them. A silence takes places in the room for a moment.

Kisuke sums it up, "It's definite now that Haru is now a prisoner of Aizen."

"However," Yoruichi inputs, "why is he doing this now and what does he intend to do with him?"

Tessai, Noba, Ririn, and Kurodo close their eyes and try to think of a logical explanation.

Kisuke stands up and says, "Well all we can do is to go to Hueco Mundo and rescue Haru before they get the chance to do what it is they're planning." Yoruichi looks up at him.

"Yes I guess it is all that we can do for now," she agrees with him.

Kisuke starts, "I'll assemble Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad and have them-" An abrupt knock is made on the front door of the building. A voice cries out and Yoruichi recognizes it right away.

"Lady Yoruichi! This is urgent!" Yoruichi stands up immediately from the table and shunpos to the front door. She opens it and standing on the other side is a woman with short cut black hair and a couple of long ponytails behind her head. She is wearing a Soul Reaper robe but along with it she is also wearing a white, sleeveless hiyori with a couple of black characters on the back of it.

Yoruichi tells her, "Ah Soi Fon. What's with all of this commotion about?" She sees that Soi Fon isn't pleased about something.

"Lady Yoruichi," Soi Fon starts to say, "We have an emergency. There's been a break-in into the Soul Society! We have a ryoka roaming around again!"


End file.
